Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bedside storage devices, specifically to such a device designed for use with and attached to a sleeping cot.
2. Description of Prior Art
Storage of articles within easy reach of a sleeping bed is an important aspect of daily home life many people take for granted. For obvious reasons, many people prefer to have ready access to articles such as eyeglasses, flashlights, medicines, books, magazines, clocks, lights, radios, small self-defense weapons, and a variety of other articles while in bed at home or elsewhere, Articles of furniture such as nightstands or storage headboards usually provide bedside storage of such articles in the home or other permanent facility. Because they are more closely associated with the concept of the present invention, examples of prior-art storage bed headboards follow:
Kemp, III, et al., U.S. Pat. No. D273,260 discloses a combined headboard and hutch unit
Lenger, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. D266,806 discloses a bed headboard or similar article
Keller, U.S. Pat. No. D262,332 discloses a headboard
The use of devices for attaching headboards to sleeping beds is also known in the prior art. The following patents are representative:
Cline, U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,672 discloses a headboard attaching bracket
Lafferty, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,968 discloses headboard mounting hardware
Yeh, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,354 discloses a headboard connecting device
Schatz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,486 discloses a headboard bracket
Although non-storage related, a few examples of bed endboards exist in the prior art. By way of example,
Nail, U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,771 discloses an endboard for supporting a child""s bed having moveable pieces slidably mounted thereon
Churchman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,751 discloses an endboard auxiliary device for beds
Brunner, et al., U.S. Pat. No. D370,143 discloses an endboard for a bed
Turner, U.S. Pat. No. D353,733 discloses a bed endboard
Alternative methods of bedside storage are also found in the prior art. The following patents are representative:
Mack, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,972 discloses an assisted sundries caddy bed based holding system
Ritchie, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,152 discloses a storage organizer for hospital bed
Dreyer Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,173 discloses a bedstead storage box
Winckler U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,673 discloses an apparatus for holding articles to a bed
Hill U.S. Pat. No. D358,284 discloses a bed storage compartment
Riehl U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,909 discloses a bed storage article
Wallace U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,258 discloses a mobile under-bed storage container
These devices may fulfill their respective objectives of bedside storage of articles in a bed-based sleeping environment such as that found in most homes, lodging facilities, and medical treatment facilities. They do not however, address a similar need in a cot-based sleeping environment such as that found where people are quartered under field conditions. In environments like this, such storage takes on even greater importance.
In an environment where people are quartered under field conditions such as camping, military bivouac, or temporary emergency sheltering, personal comfort issues figure prominently in the overall quality of the experience. Important among these issues are sleeping conditions and personal storage space immediately adjacent the sleeping area. Typically, such environments are characterized by cramped sleeping quarters inside a shelter such as a tent, cabin, lean-to, or crowded emergency shelter facility where sleeping conditions are marginal and personal space is extremely limited.
To improve sleeping conditions, many private individuals, as well as emergency management authorities, have taken to employing sleeping cots including the types shown in prior-art FIGS. 8, 14, and 20 of the drawings annexed herein. Although made of lightweight materials such as wood and aluminum, these folding cots are sturdy enough to support most adults and break down into compact packages for easy transport and storage making them perfectly suited for the aforementioned applications.
Regarding storage space in a cot-based sleeping environment, a beneficial by-product of the use of these cots is the area directly beneath the cot itself, henceforth xe2x80x9cunderspace,xe2x80x9d which provides a relatively large amount of space suitable for storing many miscellaneous articles such as luggage and articles of clothing. However, this underspace does not lend itself to the storage of certain types of articles, such as those that are fragile, valuable, and which, especially in a cot-based sleeping environment under field conditions, must be kept readily accessible. Among others, these articles may include eyeglasses, flashlights, wallets, money clips, watches, jewelry, keys, medicines, cellular phones, cameras, pagers, and, in some cases, small personal defense weapons.
Few examples of devices specifically designed to provide storage of articles on a sleeping cot are known in the prior art. One is the development of a canvas fabric organizer, Trademark xe2x80x9cField Pocketsxe2x80x9d, Owner: Darlene Webster, Reg. No., 2187104. Reg. Date: Sep. 8, 1998, shown in FIG. 1 xe2x80x9cfor draping over a military cot or camp cot.xe2x80x9d This contrivance does not lend itself to storage of fragile and/or valuable articles because it stores articles in either an exposed or unsecured manner in thin fabric or fabric mesh pockets. Stored articles can thus be easily stolen, or damaged by accidental impact with people and or objects moving or being moved about cramped sleeping quarters. Also, the contrivance itself may interfere with the fluid mounting and dismounting of the cot""s sleeping surface, or entry into or exit from a sleeping bag thereon. Most importantly however, the organizer""s low-slung hanging position along the entire length of the cot renders the cot""s valuable underspace storage area virtually inaccessible on the side of the cot from which the organizer hangs. This may necessitate placing the cot away from the wall of a tent, where cots are normally located, to facilitate access to its underspace on the side opposite that from which the organizer is hung. This would further reduce the already limited overall space found in most camping, bivouac, and sheltering situations. Another example of prior art is the development of a cot rack, sold as xe2x80x9cCot-Tree,xe2x80x9d shown in FIG. 2. This contrivance comprises two vertical poles attached to opposite corners of one end of a sleeping cot by hook and loop straps with their upper ends joined and stabilized by a horizontal pole. Hooks spaced intermittently on these vertical poles allow for storage by hanging of slinged rifles, backpacks, articles of clothing, and other hangable accoutrements. This contrivance also does not lend itself to storage of certain articles because it is limited by design to storing only those articles that may be hung on a hook in an exposed position where they can be easily stolen or damaged. Moreover, because of its height, use of this contrivance is limited to areas with considerable headroom thereby precluding its use within smaller and sharply sloping shelters such as many camping tents. Use of this contrivance may necessitate placing the cot away from the wall of a tent, where cots are normally located, to accommodate its additional height. This would further reduce the already limited overall space found in most camping, bivouac, and sheltering situations.
The utility of both these contrivances is further limited in that they can function as storage devices only in a static state and must first be emptied of articles before they can be moved. They can not be used to transport articles to and from a cot-based sleeping environment and therefore lack true functional portability.
Shortcomings notwithstanding, these contrivances evidence the need for a device that will protectively store on a sleeping cot articles that are fragile, valuable, and of potentially immediate need in a cot-based sleeping environment and do so without hampering access to the cot""s sleeping surface or its underspace storage area.
In accordance with the present invention, a clamp-on portable storage endboard for a sleeping cot comprises an open-top rigid container with a bottom and extending upward therefrom a front wall, a back wall, a left wall, and a right wall. The container is generally rectangular in shape with a predetermined height, length, and width. A plurality of interior sidewalls within the container bounds recessed compartmented storage areas. A latchable and lockable mating lid is pivotally connected to the container, and a beverage holder and carrying handle are recessed into the lid""s upper surface. An externally-accessed storage compartment is disposed to the lower half of the container. Mounting bolt apertures and cot siderail clearance housings in the bottom of the container facilitate attachment of the endboard to a variety of sleeping cots through the use of a correlating mounting bracket clamp assembly. These assemblies clamp the endboard to the crossarms of the type sleeping cot they were designed to accommodate such that they cannot be removed from outside the endboard once the endboard is closed and locked thus protecting the articles stored therein from damage or theft.
Thus has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of my storage endboard in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that its contribution to the field may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of my storage endboard that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. Thus before explaining two embodiments of my endboard in detail, it is to be understood that it is not limited in its application to the details of its construction or arrangements of its components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. My endboard is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the several purposes of my endboard. It is important; therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions in so far as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of my endboard.
Further, the purpose of the abstract is to enable U.S. Patent and Trademark Office personnel, scientists, engineers, practitioners in the art, and the general public, to quickly determine the essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, or limit its scope in any way.
Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of my storage endboard described above, several additional objects and advantages of my endboard are:
(a) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that will proximately and protectively store articles that are fragile, valuable, or of potentially immediate need in a cot-based sleeping environment such as camping, military bivouac, and temporary emergency sheltering.
(b) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that can be quickly and securely mounted to a cot through the use of a correlating mounting clamp assembly
(c) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot mounted to the cot such that its mounting clamp cannot be removed from outside the endboard when the endboard is closed and locked without structural damage to the endboard or the sleeping cot.
(d) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that will not block access to the storage space directly beneath a sleeping cot.
(e) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that will not impede fluid access to the cot""s sleeping surface or fluid entry into or out of a sleeping bag thereon.
(f) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that will store articles both while in place on the cot and in transit thereto and therefrom.
(g) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot which will not increase the cot""s overall height to an extent that would require the cot be placed farther away from a shelter wall than necessary otherwise thereby potentially reducing the overall available space within that shelter.
(h) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that will, when used as a headboard, serve to retain a pillow in place at the head of the cot""s sleeping surface.
(i) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that may serve as a console to house amenities that include but are not limited to a beverage holder, reading light, digital alarm clock, and radio.
(j) To provide a storage endboard for a sleeping cot that can be attached to a variety of sleeping cots without the use of tools.